From Creeping Sharia:
Somali Pirate Gets 34 Years for Maersk Hijacking
Posted on February 17, 2011 by creeping
via Courthouse News Service.
MANHATTAN (CN) – A federal judge tearfully read victims letters on Wednesday before sentencing Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse to 405 months in a federal prison, the maximum penalty the law allowed, for leading the April 8, 2009, hijackings of the Maersk Alabama container ship in the Indian Ocean.
U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska, moved to tears by the letters of the hijacking’s victims, said that she grounded her top-line sentence on the “extreme level of violence and sadism” that Muse showed aboard one of the ships.
In addition to his 405-month sentence, Preska imposed five years of supervised release and $550,000 in restitution.
Before imposing her sentence, Preska said that the most recent report noted 111 incidents of piracy off the coast of Somalia, about a 200 percent increase from the previous year.
Muse was the sole survivor of the four-member Somali pirate crew that attacked a U.S. cargo ship and abducted its captain. Remarkably youthful and underweight in appearance, Muse, who is thought to be in his late teens, appeared contrite during the sentencing hearing.
He pleaded guilty in May two counts each of hijacking, kidnapping and hostage taking.
Prosecutors said Muse distributed $30,000 in cash taken from the Maersk to the other pirates on the lifeboat. The U.S. Navy took Muse into custody when Muse thought he was negotiating the release of the captain, as SEALs killed the other pirates and rescued Capt. Phillips.
“I am sorry very much about what happened to the victims who were in the ship,” said Muse, dressed in a green long-sleeved shirt and khaki pants at the sentencing hearing. “I ask for forgiveness to all the people who I harmed and to the U.S. government.”
Colin Wright, one of Muse’s victims, advocated for more than 700 merchant marines still in captivity off the coast of Somalia and blasted the ship’s captain for steering the crew into pirate-infested waters.
Wright, a third officer aboard the Maersk, said that Muse and his companions kept his shipmates locked in a 130 to 140 degree room near the equator, and they were barely able to walk when the were released.”
Muse’s prison term, which spans more than 33 years, ensures that when he is released from prison, he will be older than the average life expectancy of a Somali man, Muse’s federal defender Fiona Doherty said. She added that there will be “no chance” that his parents, still living in Somalia, will be alive when he gets out.
Minyanville has some interesting points on this as well, Somali Pirate Sent up the River:
Somali pirate hijackings are financed by what may well be the world’s most unusual “stock market.”
A pirate interviewed by Canada’s National Post says that, in Haradheere, 250 miles northeast of Mogadishu, brigands set up an exchange of sorts to fund their activities.
“Four months ago, during the monsoon rains, we decided to set up this stock exchange. We started with 15 ‘maritime companies’ and now we are hosting 72. Ten of them have so far been successful at hijacking.”
He explained that, “The shares are open to all and everybody can take part, whether personally at sea or on land by providing cash, weapons or useful materials.”
After a ransom payout for releasing a Spanish vessel, “investor” Sahra Ibrahim, was lined up outside the exchange waiting for her cut.
“I am waiting for my share after I contributed a rocket-propelled grenade for the operation,” she said. “I am really happy and lucky. I have made $75,000 in only 38 days since I joined the company.”
Related:
•Captured Somali pirate given Quran, special Islamic diet in NY prison
•“From the mouth of our cannon”: brief history of Bainbridge & Muslim piracy
Somali Pirate Gets 34 Years for Maersk Hijacking
Posted on February 17, 2011 by creeping
via Courthouse News Service.
MANHATTAN (CN) – A federal judge tearfully read victims letters on Wednesday before sentencing Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse to 405 months in a federal prison, the maximum penalty the law allowed, for leading the April 8, 2009, hijackings of the Maersk Alabama container ship in the Indian Ocean.
U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska, moved to tears by the letters of the hijacking’s victims, said that she grounded her top-line sentence on the “extreme level of violence and sadism” that Muse showed aboard one of the ships.
In addition to his 405-month sentence, Preska imposed five years of supervised release and $550,000 in restitution.
Before imposing her sentence, Preska said that the most recent report noted 111 incidents of piracy off the coast of Somalia, about a 200 percent increase from the previous year.
Muse was the sole survivor of the four-member Somali pirate crew that attacked a U.S. cargo ship and abducted its captain. Remarkably youthful and underweight in appearance, Muse, who is thought to be in his late teens, appeared contrite during the sentencing hearing.
He pleaded guilty in May two counts each of hijacking, kidnapping and hostage taking.
Prosecutors said Muse distributed $30,000 in cash taken from the Maersk to the other pirates on the lifeboat. The U.S. Navy took Muse into custody when Muse thought he was negotiating the release of the captain, as SEALs killed the other pirates and rescued Capt. Phillips.
“I am sorry very much about what happened to the victims who were in the ship,” said Muse, dressed in a green long-sleeved shirt and khaki pants at the sentencing hearing. “I ask for forgiveness to all the people who I harmed and to the U.S. government.”
Colin Wright, one of Muse’s victims, advocated for more than 700 merchant marines still in captivity off the coast of Somalia and blasted the ship’s captain for steering the crew into pirate-infested waters.
Wright, a third officer aboard the Maersk, said that Muse and his companions kept his shipmates locked in a 130 to 140 degree room near the equator, and they were barely able to walk when the were released.”
Muse’s prison term, which spans more than 33 years, ensures that when he is released from prison, he will be older than the average life expectancy of a Somali man, Muse’s federal defender Fiona Doherty said. She added that there will be “no chance” that his parents, still living in Somalia, will be alive when he gets out.
Minyanville has some interesting points on this as well, Somali Pirate Sent up the River:
Somali pirate hijackings are financed by what may well be the world’s most unusual “stock market.”
A pirate interviewed by Canada’s National Post says that, in Haradheere, 250 miles northeast of Mogadishu, brigands set up an exchange of sorts to fund their activities.
“Four months ago, during the monsoon rains, we decided to set up this stock exchange. We started with 15 ‘maritime companies’ and now we are hosting 72. Ten of them have so far been successful at hijacking.”
He explained that, “The shares are open to all and everybody can take part, whether personally at sea or on land by providing cash, weapons or useful materials.”
After a ransom payout for releasing a Spanish vessel, “investor” Sahra Ibrahim, was lined up outside the exchange waiting for her cut.
“I am waiting for my share after I contributed a rocket-propelled grenade for the operation,” she said. “I am really happy and lucky. I have made $75,000 in only 38 days since I joined the company.”
Related:
•Captured Somali pirate given Quran, special Islamic diet in NY prison
•“From the mouth of our cannon”: brief history of Bainbridge & Muslim piracy
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